E bike recommendations?

[3 Horse Ranch]

Just saw this on Facebook - you dont need a $200 Ebike when you can get this baby that does "50-60 mph" (with what looks like no front brakes) for a mere $200.

Good lord, someone is going to die on that thing.

I'm gonna get one of those right after my $1200 2016 Kubota with backhoe and $1500 2 year old John Deere Gator arrive

 

[bdhsfz6]

An update. We are in the middle of a stay in Moab Utah. We brought the bikes with us. I’ve got about 550 miles on mine. They have a couple of nice trails here. Unfortunately I came down with COVID and that put the kibosh to the bike riding and hiking for a while. I’m vaccinated and it’s about like having a bad cold or a normal case of the flu. A couple pics of the bike paths.
View attachment 719051View attachment 719052

Bummer! Too bad about the Covid. Hope you feel well enough to ride there again!

My wife and I were there 2 years ago and we were told e-bikes were not allowed on that same trail. E-bikes were also banned on other trails and only permitted on some of the back country trails east of Moab.

Moab is Mecca for hard core MTB'ers who lobbied hard to ban e-bikes.

Have the laws changed recently?

 

[dodge man]

I’m a fairly new e bike owner but from what I’ve read enforcement anywhere is spotty. Ours are class I bikes, no throttle, the electric boost kicks out at 20 mph and my understanding is most places allow them on trails. I have seen other e bikes including a couple of class III ones, which boost up to 28 mph, the one guy wasn’t even pedaling.

 

[jmc]

Ebikes on trails controversy sounds a little like the controversy decades ago about restricting access to wilderness public land to the extent that only young, hardcore hikers could access it. Seems like older citizens should be able to access trails too, if they don't do inconsiderate stuff that you can't do on a mountain bike.

 

[bdhsfz6]

Ebikes on trails controversy sounds a little like the controversy decades ago about restricting access to wilderness public land to the extent that only young, hardcore hikers could access it. Seems like older citizens should be able to access trails too, if they don't do inconsiderate stuff that you can't do on a mountain bike.

This is a complex subject. There are many ongoing discussions in the e-bike forums. If you're interested, check out Electric Bike Review (EBR).

 

[dodge man]

I joined the EBR forum, it’s not bad. It seems the general consensus is most trails allow class I bikes.

 

[bdhsfz6]

I joined the EBR forum, it’s not bad. It seems the general consensus is most trails allow class I bikes.

I've been on EBR since 2018. It's a great site for ebikers.

My member name is the reverse of the one I use here.

 

[Code54]

Never understood the idea of restricting bikes on a bike trail because they could go over ___ speed. That would be the same as saying no car that can go over the speed limit is allowed on a road - wait that would be 99.99% of everything made nowadays.
Set a darn speed limit on the trail if that is a concern, a decent analog road bike could easily go over 20 without much effort....

 

[dodge man]

The one bike trail I rode earlier had a very long up hill grade, the total length is about 10 miles one way. Coming back downhill they have 20 mph speed limit signs all over. I hit 30 mph a couple of times just coasting.

 

[3Ts]

Let's see, paved bike trails and ebikes. It seems to me that all the discussion so far is 2 wheel bikes, what about 3 wheel trikes? Are they allowed on the trails? My wife & I are old enough and concerned about balance that we would not get on a 2 wheeler anymore, but 3 wheel trikes are another story. I've seen them on-line. I've not seen any ebike. Closest bike shop I know of that might have one is 3 to 4 hours away.